the only sound is the battle cry
by Kolbie Ru-Ru
Summary: Sasuke is a ghoul working at the ninja-themed cafe Konoha, a front for their organization which employs and provides food for ghouls who can't or don't want to make it on their own. He befriends Naruto, a human, who seems to have something to do with the mysterious group of ghouls known only as Akatsuki. To make things worse, his brother is involved. [Tokyo Ghoul AU. No Pairings.]


**Notes:** This is a Tokyo Ghoul AU, meaning I'm only borrowing the TG universe/concepts and applying them to Naruto, so this isn't actually a crossover. Thus, I haven't labeled it as such.

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He stares dispassionately at the frightened, pathetic excuse for a ghoul quivering on the ground, his kagune manifested as wings swaying lazily behind him.

"I-I didn't know this was Konoha territory, I swear!" He pleads desperately, holding an arm up between them as if to shield himself. "Just let me go, man, and I'll stay outta your way!"

Sasuke sneers, "You should have realized sooner." His violet feathers morph and harden into a sword, and before the ghoul can even attempt to defend himself, the ukaku strikes.

Blood splatters on his face, and reluctantly, he licks it up, utterly repulsed. No matter how many times he's tried it, the taste of ghouls never gets any easier to stomach. Fortunately, he rarely stoops to devouring his own kind. Everyone knows that this land belongs to their organization. Unfortunately, there are fools such as the _moron_ Sasuke had just had the displeasure of meeting who fancy themselves strong or clever enough to encroach upon their prey without consequence, so he takes it upon himself to correct these delusions.

He diligently strips off some of the meat and swallows it with a grimace, taking care not to drip any more blood on his clothes. Sakura would have his head if he ruined yet another uniform, and while he's definitely not scared of her threats, he'd rather skip out on the lecture. He wipes his dirtied hands on the corpse's pants and then drags the body to the closest dumpster and tosses it in.

No need to leave any evidence for the CCG, after all, and so long as Sasuke doesn't forget to alert them, some of his men will stop by and dispose of the body properly.

Almost absentmindedly, he retracts his kagune, and his eyes follow suit. He then patrols a few more of the outer sectors before calling it quits and heading home.

At least a block away from his apartment, he ambles up to a pay phone, inserts some change, and then dials a number. No one answers or gives any indication that they're listening, but Sasuke knows better.

"Sector C-7. You know what to do," He utters into the phone and then hangs up. With that settled, he turns around and takes the long way to his apartment, his pace relaxed and unhurried, ever mindful of CCG cameras.

He eventually reaches the building, which is set between another apartment complex and an old record store. His place is on the fifth floor, room 502. He'd chosen it because its windows open out onto the record store's roof, an easily accessible escape route he'd abused many times over the years.

The elevator ride is fairly short, and so it's only a few minutes later that he finds himself unlocking his front door. The lights are off, and everything seems to be the way left he'd left it. Nonetheless, he gets the distinct feeling that something's not right.

Wary, he closes the door softly and glances around the darkened room. His friends' scents have coated the entire apartment, and he doesn't sense any foreign scent mixed in with them.

He eventually checks the bedroom, and therein lies the problem. The moonlight from the window illuminates the entire room and more importantly the sleeping form of the one and only Uzumaki Naruto.

Sasuke snorts, somewhat relieved. He hadn't realized Naruto was here because his scent has pretty much swamped the whole apartment. Of course the idiot had broken in and fallen asleep on Sasuke's bed. He must have been waiting a while.

He stems the surge of guilt that thought provokes and exits the room as quietly as he'd entered.

He grabs some blankets and a pillow from the hall closet and converts the couch into a makeshift bed. He kicks off his shoes and shrugs off his uniform, tossing them haphazardly and leaving him in a black undershirt and boxers. He flops down on the covers gracelessly and sighs in delight at the pleasant sensation that envelopes him. There's nothing like laying down after taxing his muscles during the day.

Unbidden, his mind wanders back to the blond moron probably drooling all over his satin sheets. He'd met the human at uni the spare few months he'd attended, and they'd been instant rivals - in everything from their shared classes to random contests of strength to video games. Sasuke had never had taken to a human so quickly. Even if most of their interactions involve lots of bickering and insults, they're good friends, and he's not even entirely sure how it happened.

One day he'd been arguing with the idiot over some class assignment, and then somehow the human had coerced Sasuke into inviting him to his apartment - and it seems like Naruto has taken that one time as an open invitation to come over whenever he pleases, and Sasuke has yet to correct him of the assumption. And now the moron has apparently decided breaking into his apartment is all right, too, even when he's not home.

Sasuke sighs, wondering just how he'll break it to the blond that that's not a good idea. It'd be troublesome if he ever needs to house other ghouls or if he returns here injured or covered in blood, and Naruto drops in without a word of warning. Most of his kind aren't as indifferent to humans as he is. In fact, more than half of them hold grudges against them and wouldn't take kindly to Sasuke befriending one, no matter his reasons.

There's also the little fact that Naruto doesn't know Sasuke isn't one-hundred percent human. He's working on that - really. From what he's gleaned during their many heated debates, Naruto doesn't hold any malice for ghouls and is only genuinely interested in them. To him, they are the epitome of cool, and he's sympathetic to their plight. However, as far as he knows, Naruto hasn't met any ghouls (that he's aware of anyway), so his outlook could easily change should he ever encounter one.

He groans, wishing his mind would just shut up and let him sleep. Eventually, it does.

The next morning, Naruto, ever the early riser, repays his kindness from last night by pushing him off of the couch.

From his new position on the floor, he glares blearily at the annoying yellow blob. "I hate you."

"I love you, too, Sasuke!" He chirps back, entirely too energetic for - whatever godforsaken time it is.

Sasuke untangles himself from the cocoon of blankets and rises to his feet, stretching out the kinks he'd gained from sleeping on his tiny couch. He stifles a yawn and then follows the enticing smell of coffee to his kitchen, which is where the blond had disappeared to.

Barely containing his instinctive grimace at the toast Naruto is happily munching on, he shuffles to the coffee pot and makes a cup, his body remembering how to do it without his conscious input. He takes a sip and then sighs happily. It isn't his preferred choice, but even instant coffee is appealing to him after last night's snack (which had left a gross aftertaste in his mouth.)

"As much as I adore watching you make out with bean water, I've gotta get going," Naruto announces abruptly. Sasuke meets his gaze. He grins, "Thanks for letting me crash here last night. Your bed is way softer than mine. Trust you to have satin sheets, though." He raises an eyebrow.

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Shut up," is his intelligent retort. "I'm surprised you can even tell." There, that's better. He takes another sip.

"Hey!" Naruto shouts, indignant. His eyes betray his amusement, however. He sticks his tongue out like the mature adult he is. "Anyway, my class is in like fifteen minutes, so I'll see you later, Sasuke-teme!" With that, he grabs his bag and rushes out of the apartment, a whirlwind of activity as always.

Sasuke merely finishes his cup and then takes a long, hot shower. Even now, he doesn't enjoy killing. It leaves him feeling unclean, dirty. He does it because he has to. There are only so many humans willing to commit suicide, after all, and the number's not nearly high enough to feed all of Konoha.

He and a few others 'hunt' when supplies get low or the opportunity presents itself, the former of which happens all too often. Sarutobi is a softy at heart and takes in ghouls from any ward, as long as they aren't being actively hunted by the CCG. And even then, that's only if said ghouls did something stupid that caught the attention of the Doves. Ghouls who were found out accidentally are welcomed and hidden away. All of that inevitably leads to food shortages, though, and ANBU are sent out on food runs.

None of it makes him feel any better about snuffing out innocent lives, human or otherwise. At the very least, he only targets adults well into their years, and the others follow his example. The scum he'd encountered last night had kidnapped a human child, and the mere sight of it had made his blood boil. He'd attacked the ghoul (and subsequently let the little girl escape) before he'd even realized it, and by then, he'd been too angry to stop. Cannibalism is discouraged within their community, so he hadn't even bothered with bringing the body back to eat.

He shuts off the water and steps out into the cool air. Shivering, he hastily dries himself off with a towel and gets dressed in his spare uniform. He'd dropped out of college to work at Konoha, a safe haven for ghouls disguised as a ninja-themed cafe, a month and a half ago at Sarutobi's grim request. The old man wouldn't have asked that of him without good reason, so Sasuke had done so with little fuss.

There had been an upsurge in ghouls of the unscrupulous sort in their ward, some of which had been stationed suspiciously near the shop, so the old man had wanted one of his best there just in case. He'd been right to suspect. Turns out, a crazy kakuja going by the name of Orochimaru had amassed a following of other crazy ghouls and had intended to take over the entire ward. They'd put a stop to it at the cost of a third of their own men, but the 20th ward was and still is under Konoha's protection.

He makes sure to grab his wallet, keys, and phone on his way out, and he locks the door behind him very deliberately. It occurs to him to take the spare key hidden near the fire extinguisher, but when he checks, it's gone. Naruto must have realized what Sasuke was going to do and pocketed it. Or just as likely, he forgot to put it back. Either scenario makes him want to bang his head against the wall, so he puts it out of his mind and begins the relatively short trek to work.

It's still fairly early, so besides his coworkers, only a few patrons have elected to occupy their little cafe. Sakura won't show up 'til noon, so it's Kiba who greets him when he arrives.

"G'morning!" The dog-obsessed man blurts out at the sound of the door opening. He turns around, and his patented, I'm-a-lovely-person-so-tip-me smile he reserves for customers falls at the sight of Sasuke. "Oh, it's you."

He ignores the less than cheerful welcome and moves to stand behind the counter, grabbing an apron hanging on the wall and slipping it on as he does so.

Kiba yawns from beside him, and Sasuke checks the clock on the wall for the time. It's barely past seven a.m.

"Heard you had an incident last night," the other man breaks the sleepy silence.

Sasuke surreptitiously scans the room's occupants, and upon finding they're all involved with Konoha one way or another, he divulges with a shrug, "It was nothing I couldn't handle. Just some cocky ghoul trying to use one of our alleys as a hiding spot. Too stupid to realize where he was."

Kiba yawns again, nodding. "Shino was called to pick him up. Said he'd been cut up." He sends Sasuke a pointed look.

"I wasn't going to waste perfectly good meat, even if it tasted like shit," he explains, a tad defensively.

Holding his hands up in a placating manner, Kiba insists, "Hey, man, I get it. I'm just sayin' it's a slippery slope. You of all people should know that."

Sasuke scowls at the insinuation that he could _ever_ become anything like That Man. It sets his teeth on edge just thinking about it - about what he did. "I don't need _you_ to tell me that."

"Sasuke-"

"Drop it."

"But-"

" _Drop. It._ "

Kiba sighs in frustration. "Okay, whatever."

Thankfully, customers soon come streaming in, enough that both of them are too busy to continue brooding. Around twelve, Sakura comes in and takes over his shift, and by then, Kiba seems to have forgotten all about it.

"See ya, Sasuke, Sakura! I've got a date to get to!" He waves cheerily at them and then practically dashes out of the door.

Sakura shake her head, exasperated. "That poor girl..."

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Kiba's not _that_ annoying," he assures her - then amends, "Most of the time."

"Yes, but you've met Hinata. She's so delicate," his best friend frets. "Maybe I shouldn't have set them up?"

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "We _are_ talking about the same girl who can best _me_ in a fight, right? Because 'delicate' is not a word I would use to describe her."

"You know what I mean," she admonishes. "She's delicate emotionally. And Kiba, well, he-"

"Has the emotional capacity of a teaspoon?" Sasuke finishes for her.

She laughs. "That's one way of putting it."

"He _does_ have a habit of putting his foot in his mouth," he concedes.

Sakura arches an eyebrow at him. "From what I've witnessed, that seems to be a common trait among all men."

He smirks. "If you're implying I'm not aware of my own social ineptitude, then you'd be completely right."

She laughs again and regards him fondly. "Never change, Sasuke."

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 **End Notes:** As usual, I'm not sure where this came from, but I like it enough to post. Rest assured that despite all appearances, there actually won't be any pairings or romance in this fic - assuming I continue it. What do you guys think? I'm kind of fond of this little world I've created and all the little lives I've given the characters myself. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! :D


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